Chart Plotter / Auto Pilot

colbysmith · Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:51 pm Post subject:

As for depth sounding, even the newer units may lose the sea floor once in a while, or more often. Every Garmin I've owned has had problems with real shallow water, or with a quick depth change at speed. Also, running more than one unit at a time, each having sonar, may mess up the other's connection, particularly if they are on the same frequency. The sea floor material effects the signal as well. Colby

cgypsy · Posted: Wed Aug 07, 2019 9:24 pm Post subject:

I decided to get a Garmin Stiker 4 for $160. It was both the smallest and cheapest depth sounder I could find. I will also use Navionics on my tablet.

That will give me a backup depth sounder in the future and more time to wait for sales and decide what I really want.

Thank you everyone for your input. I am still interested in hearing more because this is just a temporary solution, but it will get me back out on the water.

RichardM · Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 3:48 pm Post subject:

A few years ago I got old-unit Garmin repair work from Capt. Mike MaCrae, email captmikemacrae@comcast.net. It's possible he's still doing that work and could repair your unit, if you're interested.

cgypsy · Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 6:53 pm Post subject:

dgeorges · Posted: Mon Aug 12, 2019 12:32 pm Post subject:

Very impressive input on this post. BRAVO to all for your expertise.

If I can offer any input, it would be that I have been running the Lowrance Outboard Autopilot (AP) for four seasons now, and the performance has been fabulous and worth every bit of the $1,000 I paid for it.

This AP works flawlessly with my hydraulic steering in conjunction with my Lowrance HDS Gen2 at the helm to take care of my navigation needs while trolling for salmonids on the great lakes. A serious flaw in some AP's is that they won't run effectively at slow speeds. Not the Lowrance AP. We normally troll at about 2 to 3 MPH. When a fish gets on, we immediately reduce speed to 1.5 MPH to fight the fish and the AP works perfectly, sometimes for many miles of lake when a big Chinook takes a bait.

Navigating to and from fishing locations is flawless. Their are special routes or patterns built into the AP as well such as "zig-zag" which moves the bow from side to side while staying on course, or a spiral feature which will keep you moving in circle around a reef. Their are more available, but you probably get what I'm listing here.

This AP will run in conjunction with the Lowrance Gen2, Gen3, Ti2's, and Ti3's, Carbon, and HDSLive units equally well.

Their were initial problems with the AP's when they first came out, but most of the issues were user generated as people didn't know how to properly commission and or integrate the units with the sonar and GPS antennae. I had no such issues as I followed the instructions on the Lowrance web site, and the video produced by Lowrance on youtube.

I have posted previously on CBrats regarding my detailed experience with these AP's. Search for same under Lowrance Autopilot, and the post should come up.

Note that I used the same AP on my CD16 with a Honda BF50 and my current CD22 with a Honda BF90.

PM me your phone # if you want to chat.

Cheers,

D